In her book, Delivered, Tamara Laroux tells a story of despair, her suicide attempt, and then how she received saving redemption. 

Tamara was just six years old when her parents divorced.  She was overwhelmed with feelings of rejection, felt completely alone and was in a deep depression--her world just fell apart.  As she grew up, she turned the slightest negative comment or event into a big problem, making a mountain out of molehill.  She just could not be happy.  She felt if she couldn’t be happy, the only answer was to take her own life. 

In 1982, when she was fifteen years old, Tamara took a gun from her mother’s room and stepped into a shower. She knelt down, put the gun to her temple and asked the Lord to forgive her.  Something told her to move the gun from her head and point it at her chest.  She placed the gun on her chest to the left side of her heart and pulled the trigger. 

Her lungs became filled with blood and she couldn’t hear anything.  Even though her eyes were open, things went black. She felt her soul leave her body' she was no longer in control of anything.

She fell into a place that was absolute torment.  Like the rich man who died and went to hell in the story Jesus told in Luke 16, she felt her body burning and in excruciating pain.  She was tormented by fear and was profoundly lonely and depressed.  Others around her were formless beings yelling and crying out in pain. They were begging for a second chance, screaming that people still living on earth should claim Jesus Christ as Lord so they would never come to this place.

Tamara saw the hand of God literally scoop her up and carry her to show her heaven.  No longer was she tormented; she felt healed and whole.  She experienced the presence of Jesus.  “The glory there is too exquisite for words,” says Tamara.   She relates that all was so bright and beautiful.  She had an astounding feeling of peace and total tranquility and an overwhelming presence of God’s love and forgiveness.  She was given a strong spiritual strength that she had never before experienced and felt ready to confront what was ahead of her.  Then she saw herself returning home and back into her body, and opened her eyes.

The bullet had just missed her heart; the pressure of the bullet should have exploded it.  The doctors were amazed that all she came away with was a few broken ribs.

Tamara now feels joy and peace and knows that God loves her.  She has been adopted into God’s family.  She accepts what He offers as hers to receive.  She says, “I have to be able to recognize and replace my junk with His greatness.”  She knows that she can face anything in life as long as she relies on God’s promises and accepts His love and gift of salvation.  She now faces life and its problems with strength and a peaceful joy.  Tamara concludes, “I can come out on the other side full of hope and a victory in Christ.” 

Eternity is real.  Hell is real.  Heaven is real.  To get to heaven, you must accept Jesus as Lord, acknowledge He died for your sins and repent, and accept His gift of salvation.  The condemned creatures in Hell cried out to those back on earth that they should learn and know the truth.   All who leave this earth will either go to a place of eternal torment or to a place of eternal light, love and joy.  It is each person’s responsibility and decision to decide which route he or she will take.